Space Ghost Coast to Coast
right|200px|thumb|Logo Space Ghost Coast to Coast (often abbreviated as SGC2C) is the first Williams Street original series and aired on Cartoon Network originally. It's an animated comedic spoof talk-show that mixes animation and live-action, and was the first Cartoon Network series to do this. It was created 6 years prior to Adult Swim's creation, and was previously created by Williams Street under the studio name Ghost Planet Studios. It was transitioned into an as series with GPS's name transformation into Williams Street at the time of as's conception in 2001. It holds the record as the longest running WS original series with 98 episodes which were ran April 15, 1994 – April 12, 2004. It has a usual run-time of 11 minutes, with many exceptions due to jokes that elongated the run-time. It has the most expansive universe with two spinoffs, several comic books series, and cameos and various impact on several other WS programs. It also has the most expansive mythology due to it's origins. The series took characters, places, and things from the Space Ghost segments of the 1960's Hanna-Barbera cartoon Space Ghost & Dino Boy. It revolutionized the characters of the series in a comedic fashion, and ironically ended up getting more attention and notoriety than the original series, completely re-imagining the source material for many people. Because of the meta-humor the series often displays, the original series itself is often the butt of jokes. Space Ghost, the titular protagonist of the 1960's series, hosts a talk show with the help of his co-hosts and crew made up of the enslaved antagonists. His crew often disrupt the show due to their nature and history as his nemesis, and often make it clear of their hatred and dislike of him and their forced labor. The talk-show centers around celebrity interviews between the animated Space Ghost and live-action celebrity guests. His interviews are often extremely awkward, and sometimes hostile. The format of talk-shows or interviews are often subverted in favor of surreal circumstances. The guest's responses are dis-jointed, and it's hard to tell if they're aware of the nature of the program, due to the intentional production process. History Non-Fictional SGC2C came into existence when media mogul and head of Cartoon Network Ted Turner wanted a program that would appeal to adults. His idea was a low-cost late-night cartoon series. He enlisted Mike Lazzo, the senior vice president of CN, to head the project. Lazzo decided the lowest costing method to making the animation was to take animation from a property they already had the rights to, and super-impose them over live action sequences. He decided to re-edit Space Ghost footage as part of a concept he'd had previously of a "Satirical David Letterman-style talk show, with a thoroughly clueless host asking celebrity guests a steady stream of stupid, non sequitur questions." Space Ghost was then conceived from this combination of method and concept, and became Cartoon Network's first original series, as well as the first animated talk-show in history. SGC2C first aired on April 15, 1994 in the United States on the Cartoon Network airing initially at 11:00pm ET on Friday nights, with an encore showing of the episode on Saturday night. Early episodes of SGC2C were played alongside episodes of the original 1960's Space Ghost segments, which gave the show a regular half-hour format. Some airings of the original 1960's segments featured odd laugh tracks, in a surreal C2C-esque fashion. In 2001 SGC2C was turned into an swim series. Episodes of Coast to Coast were produced under Ghost Planet Industries' new name "Williams Street". It went on permanent hiatus in 2004. Beyond the original run of the series, at least two additional episodes were announced and had their respective interviews filmed, but were never finished due to cancellation. These included interviews with Seth Green and Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane. Neither of these interviews made it into an episode, but part of the McFarlane interview surfaced as an easter egg in Space Ghost's third DVD. After being cancelled, the show remained in reruns on swim until 2005. Although reruns weren't featured on swim, episodes still streamed online in the Adult Swim Video and for purchase in the Xbox Live Arcade and on itunes. Online Exclusive episodes worked as a renewal of the series in 2006. These shorts were featured on GameTap, the Turner owned online gaming pay-service. The first hint to this renewal was Space Ghost's appearance at E3 with an interview of a Microsoft executive. In 2006, the episodes finally surfaced and ran regularly until 2007. To match GameTap's status as a gaming source, Space Ghost interviewed gaming icons as well as "GameTap's Artist of the Month". The jokes not relating to interviews were also often themed around video games. Ratings for the shorts were apparently low, and to match this, the episode made facetiously references this fact. No further episodes have been made, putting SGC2C back into complete hiatus. Although no new episode or shorts have been made, SGC2C continues to make appearances on swim itself with advertisements based off the series, as well as SGC2C characters making appearances in other WS series. Advertisements featuring C2C include a Tom Goes to the Mayor promo with a short interview with Tom and The Mayor, an ESurance interview with it's mascot Erin (which Space Ghost makes lewd remarks to), and a McDonald's commercial featuring an interview with a customer (that attempted to advertise the Dollar Menu). After 3 years of not airing on swim regularly, it came back in 2008 on as's Old School Night, which featured two episodes back-to-back. Old School Night was soon taken off, although reruns of Space Ghost stayed (with only one episode instead of two at the very end of the block). Fictional Because the format is a talk-show within a show, the universe of the show has it's own fictional history for the program alternate to it's real-life factual one. The talk-show was going to originally star Harvey Birdman and be entitled Birdman Coast to Coast. Lokar was originally supposed to be the co-star keyboard and musician. Moltar, notably, was the only person who was originally employed that stayed in the same position once SGC2C got off the ground. BMC2C fell through because not only was Harvey Birdman extremely bad at hosting, his powers (which stemmed from sun rays) conflicted with the filming schedule. Space Ghost, another washed up superhero, was contacted and eventually replaced Birdman. Lokar, who was injured during the pilot of BMC2C, ended up being replaced with Zorak (who was previously part of the behind-the-scenes crew). The pilot for SGC2C was apparently successful, as it was greenlit and went into production. Behind the Scenes Cast and Crew Characters Episode Mechanics Intro Outro Episodes Season 1 Season 2 Season 3 Season 4 Season 5 Season 6 Season 7 Season 8 & 9 GameTap Webisodes Spinoffs Cartoon Planet The Brak Show DVD Release Comic Books Cartoon Network Presents.. Cartoon Network Starring.. Games Merchandise Reception Ratings Critical Community Legacy Trivia External Links Category:Space Ghost Coast to CoastCategory:Television Series